Different Kinds of Frost
by DarkDragonne
Summary: Before he became a guardian, Jack found only one person who could see him. And that person turned out to be not quite human... and far too similar to Jack himself.
1. Chapter 1

_Just watched Rise of the Guardians today, and this_ _little plotbunny has been tugging at my brain the enti__re movie. Because really, the similarities are all too striking. At first, I'd planned on this to be a one shot, maybe followed by another, more humorous one. But then I realized that it would really be OOC for them (especially Loki) to talk about themselves to a complete stranger, no matter how weird the circumstances. So this expanded._

_It's going to be a series of one-shots, if I'll still feel like writing them. Basically, developing friendship between these two.  
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_This is set post-avengers, pre-RotG.  
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_Not all too happy with how this turned out, but I wrote this for myself mainly, so... whatever, really. And I know the accepted headcannon (or closest thing to it) is loki being Jack's mother or something, but I can't work with that right now.  
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_Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
_

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**Different Kinds of Frost**

The thin tendrils of sand stretched out across the sky, creating a fine web between the windows of the neighborhood's children. If Jack strained his eyes, he caught glimpses of shapes in the sand- dolphins and horses and dragons.

The park was relatively quiet at this hour, with all of the children already asleep. Jack amused himself briefly by floating in front of a couple seated on a bench, looping around their heads and tugging at the woman's dark hair. She laughed, muttering something about the wind, and he grinned with her.

The woman turned back towards her boyfriend, placing her hand on his. Jack waved his hand between their faces, which drew closer and closer to each other until their noses passed through his hand as if it wasn't there. The smile wiped off his face as quickly as it came. Suddenly, the game didn't seem as fun. He turned away, clutching his staff tightly, reassured by its solid touch, and turned away towards the lake.

There was a lone man sitting by the frozen water. He was dressed lightly for this weather, in black pants and a dark green jacket that seemed all too light. He wore no hat over his black hair, and no gloves, despite the fact that he was cupping an ice crystal between his hands. His head was lowered, and Jack could imagine him staring thoughtfully at the small object.

Jack settled on a branch of a leafless tree, several feet above the man's head, and absent-mindedly traced frost patterns into its pale bark. Below him, the man's shoulders tensed, and he threw the crystal away from him with a low snarl. It skidded across the frozen surface of the lake and came to rest in its center. He looked away from the object, and suddenly turned his gaze upwards, staring at Jack's head, or more likely a spot near it, with piercing green eyes.

Jack gazed back, although he knew the stare wasn't directed at him. The man's eyes narrowed and Jack looked around furtively, to find the object of his interest. Maybe a bird or a squirrel on some higher branch. But he found nothing. It couldn't be that…

"Can you…" He swallowed, "can you see me?" He didn't expect an answer. No one had given him one before.

"Yes." Jack blinked once, and then again. Had he heard correctly? "Why should I not?"

He hadn't realized he had let go of his grip on the branch until he found himself falling, and managed to stabilize himself just in time to land on his feet, if somewhat shakily. "You can see me." He said again, at a loss for words.

"You are not a mortal." The man said, stating a fact.

"How did you…"

"You flew and conjured snow. Mortals are not capable of these feats."

"Yeah… I'm… not a mortal." Jack managed. "I'm 300 years old, as a matter of fact."

The dark-haired man did not seem surprised by that information. Instead, he turned to Jack's staff, which had iced over where his hand touched it. "How can you do this?" He asked. "Who are you?"

"I'm Jack Frost." He replied. "And… I don't know how I do it, I just… I always have." For as long as he could remember.

"Frost." The man's lip curled into a slight grimace.

"Who are you?" Jack chose to ignore his apparent disdain at the name. The stranger saw him, and that was more than enough.

The man hesitated for a moment before answering. "Loki." He didn't add a surname, or a title, or anything to indicate who he was. There was something about his name that tickled that back of Jack's mind, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.

"You probably won't be able to answer this, but… how? How do you do it?"

Loki sighed. "You are making no sense. Unless you are under some charm of invisibility, there is no reason why I would not. And you are not under a spell, or I would have sensed it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but it's not a spell. People just can't see me. I guess they don't believe in me or something. I don't know. Maybe it's something I'm doing wrong. But they just can't." He was babbling. But what did it matter what this man knew about him?

Loki frowned. "I am not familiar with such a phenomenon. But it has been many years since I was in this realm."

"Realm?"

"Your world. You say mortals cannot see you… does that mean you cannot communicate with them either?" Jack nodded grimly, and something in Loki's face relaxed.

"Wait, does that mean you're a… an alien?" The full implication of the words hit him. "As in, not from this world?"

"An alien." Loki scoffed. "I am a god, you fool. And you would do well to remember that."

It was Jack's turn to frown. "A god, you say? I don't know about that… you could just be one of us."

"I do not know who you are referring to, but I am most certainly not like you."

"_Don't know who I'm… _Huh? Santa Clause? Tooth Fairy? Sandman? Never heard of them?" Easter Bunny didn't deserve a mention, of course. "You actually haven't," he realized. "I guess you really are an alien."

"I assume everyone in this world is supposed to know of them?" Jack nodded. "Of you?"

Jack lowered his head. "Not… not quite." He admitted. "I told you. They can't see me. None of them. They can see the others well enough, but not me. I don't know why you can. Maybe it's because you're a god. Alien. Whatever."

"Perhaps." Neither of them spoke for a while, each lost in their thoughts. Jack's mind was spinning with the possibilities. It was the first time he's had a conversation in years. As a matter of fact, it was the first time someone had spoken to him since his brief run-in with an angry Bunny seven years ago. And this time, it wasn't a guardian. Granted, Loki wasn't exactly human either, but it was a start.

"Why are you out here?" Jack asked. "Why aren't you with your alien family or something?"

"I have none." Loki said softly, and Jack found himself wondering why he was here. Why was a person from a different planet here on earth, with no family or acquaintances? Or could it be that he really didn't have anyone, not even back on his home world?

The other man's eyes were still averted. Jack suspected he wouldn't have said any of that if he hadn't known Jack couldn't tell anyone. Slowly, hesitantly, Jack reached out with his hand and placed it on Loki's. Loki flinched, and stared at Jack with surprise, but he didn't move away. His skin wasn't warm. It could have been the same temperature as Jack's own cold skin. It was certainly just as pale. Jack didn't move, relishing the very touch, the feel of a solid hand under his own.

The snow under their hands began to ice over, delicate curls of frost and ice solidifying the powdery mass. Jack glanced at his staff. It lay at his side, untouched. He knew that it wasn't him freezing the ground. When he looked back at their hands, he saw Loki's skin had transformed, a deep blue taking over the pale white, strange markings carving themselves into the flesh.

Jack didn't know whose face was more surprised- his or Loki's. The blue hadn't reached the rest of the other man's skin, and he pulled his hand away. A brief look passed between the two, and Loki abruptly got to his feet and walked away, blue hand shoved deep into the pocket of his jacket.

Jack didn't follow. He didn't call out for Loki to come back. Instead, he watched the retreating back of the one person who saw him, looked down at the perfect circle of ice that had formed around Loki's hand, and whispered so quietly even he could barely hear himself, "thank you."

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_Review please!_


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: I know, it's been a while since Christmas, but I don't celebrate, so what do I care? We don't even get any snow where I live... But I went up north this weekend, and got to see some snow for the first time in a year, and probably won't get to see any again until next winter. So I wrote this while the inspiration still lasted..._

_I tried to get a better grip on Jack's character here, but I'm not too happy about my Loki... next chapter should compensate though. I'm going to have fun with it._

_Also, I explained Jack's involvement in Norse mythology, which makes no sense with the RotG timeline..._

_hope you like it._

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**Christmas Eve**

Jack had taken to frequenting the park over the past weeks, possibly in hope of meeting Loki again. After their previous encounter, Jack had done some research on the man… only to discover he was, in fact, not a man at all. For once, he hadn't been lying when he called himself a god. But the revelation had triggered Jack's memories of over two centuries ago reminding him of an incident he had almost forgotten, and hadn't thought of since it had happened. He was dying to discuss it with Loki, but the god had disappeared since his… display at the end of their encounter, and hadn't appeared in the park again.

It was Christmas Eve, which meant almost no one was outdoors except for a small choir singing "Silent Night", and a miniscule amount of non-Christians wandering about. Nearly everyone was in their homes, with their families. Soon North's sled would appear in the sky. This was North's night, after al, but Jack would be expected to do his job nonetheless. After all, what was Christmas without some snow? He'd already frosted over the windows all around the city, and set a light snowfall to last through the night. New york was going to enjoy a white Christmas this year.

Jack floated over the park with his legs crossed in midair, surveying his handiwork with satisfaction. It was a good Christmas, and even if he's have to spend it alone, it wasn't anything out of the ordinary…

Something _shifted_. Jack felt more than saw it, a disturbance in the calm night. He turned his head quickly, feeling his hair lash around his head, and there it was- a man standing where nothing and no one had been before, his back turned. Jack found himself grinning widely at the sight.

Moments later, a snowball the size of a fist had left jack's hand, hitting the man on a shoulderblade. The man turned abruptly, green fire in his eyes, before he caught sight of Jack hovering a few feet away, shaking with laughter.

"Oh." He said. "It's you."

"The one and only." Jack laughed, tossing another snowball from hand to hand. "Aren't you going to fight back?"

"No," Loki replied plainly, his tone and body language clearly indicating that such childish practices were beneath him.

"You sure?" Jack taunted playfully. "Not dignified enough for you, _your highness_?" He emphasized the title, and was rewarded by a barely noticeable narrowing of Loki's eyes.

"I take it you know who I am now."

"Yep." Jack dropped lightly to the ground and walked over to the other man. "I remembered."

"Remembered?"

Jack nodded. "About two hundred years ago, I think, a group of Asgardians came here, to this world. To teach the younger Aesir about the people here, and observe it up close. I watched them for a few days, but apparently I wasn't careful enough. I thought they wouldn't be able to see me so I didn't put too much effort into hiding. But for a man with one eye, the king could see a lot." Was it just his imagination, or did Loki's jaw clench at the mention of the Allfather?

"It took quite a bit of explaining," he continued, "but ultimately he was impressed by the things I could do. He was surprised I could manipulate ice, just like you were." Loki offered no explanation, so Jack kept talking. "He let me stay with his company until they returned. Made me the honorary god of snow, the spirit of winter.

"I saw you there. You were always with your brother, at least whenever I could see you." He didn't watch Loki for a reaction, half-afraid of what he would see if he did. He knew Loki didn't take kindly to mentions of his family, although he didn't know _why_. His reactions were always varied, but never good. "Don't you remember seeing me there?" He tried to pursue a different direction in the conversation.

"I don't." Loki said thoughtfully.

"I went by a different name back then," he tried to jog Loki's memories. Surely he remembered _something_. "Jokul Frosti."

"Icicle Frost," Loki translated the ancient Norse language. "I am afraid I do not remember you. Perhaps I did not think you important at the time. On Asgard, there is a habit of looking down on creatures of frost."

"Why?"

"Until I met you, I was certain that ice magic is an ability exclusive to the Jotun.

"Jotun?" Loki was less forthcoming with information about his past than Jack himself. It had to be coerced out of him with an endless stream of questions.

"Frost giants. A race of monsters, and Asgard's oldest enemies. They are lesser than Aesir, lesser than mortals even. Perhaps I mistook you for one of them." There was something stiff about his tone, as if he were reading out of a textbook.

"Do I look a lot like these… jotun?"

"Not at all. They are huge, monstrous beasts, with red eyes and blue sk—" he stopped talking, realizing the slip of his tongue. And suddenly, Jack _understood_.

"Why won't you talk about your family?" Jack vaguely remembered them, tall and imposing Odin, with his strength tempered by his wisdom, grey showing in his golden hair. Frigga, the apparently gentle mother who looked perfectly capable of destroying anyone who threatened her family or harmed a single hair on her yellow head. And Thor, the eldest prince, large and loud and boisterous, always drawing attention to himself, drinking and feasting and fighting. He was a sharp contrast to his brother. They all were. Loki had been different back then too, although he had still been nothing like his family. He had seemed healthier somehow, more innocent. Definitely more playful. Something had changed in him.

"They are not my family!" Loki snapped, his face revealing conflicting emotions.

"Is that what they said?" Jack demanded, his tone rising as well.

"No! But it is true nonetheless"

"So you gave them up." Jack said angrily. "You had everything, but gave it up over stupid prejudice. Do you know how much some people would give to trade places with you? How much they would trade for a family?" As he stood there, hands balled into fists, panting heavily, the unspoken words hung in the air- _how much _I _would give for a family._

Loki gave no acknowledgement of his words, but he seemed to deflate somehow, his anger no longer burning, but simmering below the surface. He didn't say anything further about the subject.

Jack felt himself slowly growing calmer too, although he wasn't sure what had changed. They were nearly alone in the park, with the snow still falling lightly, piling in fluffy piles on the ground. The choir was still singing… oh. He hadn't realized the song had changed. They were singing "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire" now. That song never failed to improve his mood… almost unconsciously, he found himself humming along to the slow melody, as Loki watched curiously.

"What are they celebrating?" Loki asked, and it tok Jack a moment to comprehend the question.

"The choir?"

"Everyone." He appeared to be thinking of someone else. "What cause do they have for festivities?"

"Uh… are you ok?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Loki snapped.

"Don't you know what day it is? Christmas Eve?" Loki looked at him blankly. "You have no idea what that means, do you?" Loki shook his head, and Jack sighed. How did one explain Christmas? "It's a holiday… celebrating the birth of Christ. That's the man you see on a cross in churches. Which you probably don't go to." What would a god do in a church? "Christianity began from him, pretty much. No, not exactly, I mean, but that's kinda complicated, so…"

"What you are saying is that they are celebrating the birth of the founder of their religion?" Loki clarified, and Jack found himself thanking whatever gods there were he didn't have to explain Christianity. Some things were just impossible.

"That's how it started. But most people don't _really_ celebrate Christ's birth nowadays. I mean, they do, but not for the religious part. It's more of a tradition now. A family holiday. Everyone gets together, they have dinner, decorate a tree…"

"A tree." The tradition must have sounded completely alien to Loki's ears.

"Yep. They hang little stars and shiny balls from the branches and put it in their living rooms."

"It sounds like a foolish tradition."

"Maybe it is. But in the morning…" Jack said wistfully. "In the morning they wake up and find presents under it."

"_Find_ presents? Or leave them there in the night for each other to find?"

"Non-believer!" Jack accused with a chuckle. They leave it for each other, yeah. But usually North comes in the night and leaves his own presents for the kids.

"North? Is that a person?"

"Yeah. They call him Santa Clause around here. He rides in a sled pulled by flying reindeer. He's supposed to reach these parts any minute. We should see him soon."

Loki stared skeptically at the sky, and Jack was acutely aware he was probably doing a very bad job of explaining Christmas. It must have sounded ridiculous to Loki. "And everyone celebrates this Christmas?"

"Not _everyone_. Most Americans do. Norwegians too." He thought Loki might find that bit of information interesting.

"Then why don't you?" The question hit Jack like a punch between the ribs.

"No one to celebrate with," he said as flippantly as he could manage, trying to keep up his half-smile. "Invisible, remember?" He waggled his fingers in front of Loki's face. The song had changed again. The choir was singing "On the Twelfth Day of Christmas" now, and Jack suddenly felt drained, strangely empty. Absent-mindedly, he gathered a fistful of ice in his palm and started sculpting it with his bare hands.

A sudden noise erupted through the night, the boom of something big travelling supersonic. He looked up and saw a large red shape passing far over their heads. If he strained his ears, he thought he could hear North's booming laughter. Or maybe it was just the wind stirred up by his arrival.

"Can't you see it?" He called out to Loki, who wasn't even looking in the sled's direction.

"See what?"

"North's sled. It's up there!" It had almost disappeared by then, leaving a barely visible smudge in the horizon.

"I see nothing,"

"You really are a non-believer, eh?" Jack laughed, and then a sudden thought struck him. "You know, you must be the first person ever who could see me but not North."

"Perhaps…" Loki looked thoughtful. "Perhaps it is because I have no choice but to believe in frost."

Jack stared down at the thing he had been carving, and saw it had taken the shape of a white wolf made of pure ice, frozen in an endless howl. He didn't know if what Loki had said was meant as a compliment, insult, or simple statement of fat, but the words stuck in his mind, resonating over and over. _Believe in frost_.

On an impulse, he handed the icy sculpture to the god, taking care not to touch his bare skin. Last time they had touched, Loki must have reverted to what could only be his true form, and Jack had a feeling he wouldn't appreciate it happening again.

Loki looked at the gift with surprise, studying the minute detail. The ice didn't melt upon touching his flesh, which was as cold as Jack's own. "A wolf," he said softly, and in his green eyes Jack could see the weight of a thousand years of memories.

"Merry Christmas, Loki," Jack grinned, and this time, he received a smile in return. "Come here tomorrow." He decided. "I'll show you the really good thing about Christmas. If you're up to it, of course."

"I am certain I will be up for the challenge. I will come." Loki replied, rose to his feet, and vanished in a flare of green light, still clutching the wolf.

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_So what did you think?_

_Next chapter, we'll get to see the mischievous side of these two, because really, it can't be left out._

_review please!_


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